I flew forward into the rank of hellhound and activated my personal lightning storm. I didn't defend myself from their claws and bites, I didnt dodge their attacks, I didnt even pay them any mind. I simply launched droves of holy spears from one hand while swinging my lightning coated celestial bronze spear with another.
I reaped the hellhounds as if I was a DnD character, grinding against the low leveled mobs.
In the first few seconds, I'd already thinned their ranks by almost two dozen before some of them finally reached the demigods.
Normally, this would've been a disaster for any demigod. Fighting a hellhound while having extremely limited mobility was spelling for disaster. But these hellhounds were already injured by my onslaught, and the ares and Aphrodite demigods were fighting together like a competent team. More than that, they had Thalia.
An Aegis wielding Thalia.
There was no way the hellhounds would manage to kill any of them. I was actually more concerned about the tail squad who were fighting skeletons. But they had Luke with them, the greatest swordsman to ever live in 3 centuries. They'll be fine.
Suddenly, I felt the air shifting again, and the ice beneath our feets cracked into pieces. The magic must have run out.
"Move forward! The Hill's top is in sight!"
I leveled up once more but couldn't afford to be distracted. I knew I'd leveled up heavily in this battle, but I just didn't have any time to check right now.
We started climbing the hill again, battling beside the monsters while carrying our injured and dead.
"Almost there!"
Indeed, the hill top was just a big jump away. But for some reason I had a premonition that our mysterious enemy wasn't sitting idle.
Perhaps my paranoia was the thing that made me react so fast. The moment I felt the air shifting above us again, I knew some new bullshit was going to attack us.
"Get down! Get down now!" I yelled towards the ones furthest from us, just a moment before an inferno of fire came into existence, raging towards us.
I used every single bit of my control over the air to shift the path of those raging flames of fire over our heads, barely managing to keep the kids from getting roasted alive.
Fortunately, the demigods had taken my warning very seriously and everyone, except a few unfortunates at the very back, were leaning down on the ground as the flames of fire went past our heads.
"Everyone, run for the camp!"
Thankfully my allies were smart, and the Aphrodite cabin made a break for the magical border quickly. The Ares cabin looked like they wanted to fight our mysterious enemy but they didn't disobey my orders and reluctantly followed the Aphrodite.
"Anna, go!" I ordered the hesitating girl. Now wasn't the time for heroics and hesitation. "Thalia, you too!"
Then, I flew towards the back of our group, the ones who sustained the brunt of the inferno and didn't have time to follow my orders.
The Hermes cabin had been carrying some of our dead too, and now they had more bodies to add. The last attack had hurt them badly, but fortunately Luke was fine.
I did my best to help them, tying multiple bodies in thin threads of air. But I knew I was running on fumes when I felt the air waver and couldn't hold more than half a dozen.
Another pair of hands suddenly came back to help. I turned to see who, and scowled immediately.
"Thalia! Why are you still here?"
The girl scowled right back, but I could see a deep fear in her gaze. "I'm not leaving you behind! I-I can't."
Gods damn it all.
I didn't complain further and together we placed the bodies on the other side of the border before going back. There were only a few demigods left when I felt the ground shaking.
[Skill Leveled Up: Mystiokinesis Sense] Lvl 3
"Everyone hang on!"
I looked around furiously and tried to use my mist sense to get a single glimpse of our mysterious attacker. The bastard has made things unbelievably complicated for us. So many dead and injured, while the enemy attacked us from shadows.
The shaking ground suddenly formed cracks and multiple vines tried to bind my feets. My sword leapt to cut them off before they can even touch me. But then even more vines started to grow out, and I had to continuously keep cutting them down. I turned to glance at the others and saw they were in the same predicament.
But the border was right there. Just a couple of steps away!
A plan formed in my head, and without stopping to fight the vines, I launched multiple Holy spears towards my allies feets to free them, before blowing a wave of heavy wind that picked them up and pushed them over the hill before the vines could trouble them further.
Everyone except Thalia, who for some reason used her own paltry control of air to resist my winds.
"Thalia wha–!?"
"We'll go together!" She screamed desperately, looking quite panicked. "Come on!"
"You stubborn–!"
I bit off my frustrated retort, preferring to slash at the irritating vines that had almost managed to bind me. Then, I took a step towards her. Or tried to atleast, cause my feets suddenly decided to clamp down on the earth, not moving an inch.
And then my body started to freeze up, as if suddenly instead of air I was moving through thick concrete. I could sense the magic taking hold of my body but i could do anything to stop it.
[Resistance Leveled Up: Mystiokinesis] Lvl 2–20%
I felt my body resisting the magic a little bit, and used this chance to send a shock of electricity throughout my body. Whatever magic was trying to bind me instantly vanished just as I sensed the air moving in front of me.
My sword leapt up with such speed that my invisible opponent didn't even have time to do anything but be cut off by my spear.
[Skill Leveled Up: Mist Sense] Lvl 3
A pained high-pitch scream greeted my ears like sweet honey and I knew I successfully hit my opponent.
I took a glance at Thalia who had been stuck just like me, but even now she still couldn't move for some reason.
My eyes glanced towards the opponent at my feet and I was surprised to find her alive, even more suprised when I found a female lizard at my feet. She had dark green serpentine slits for eyes and lizardlike claws for hands.
'Observe'
Lamia (Gaea's Champion)
Race: Monster
Tuer: 5
Level: 50 (Max)
Mana: 284,000/400,000
Stamina: 55,000/57,000
Health: 37,899/48,000
Stats
Strength: 40
Speed: 52
Dexterity: 53
Endurance: 57
Constitution: 48
Mental: 40
Spirit: 400
This was the first opponent in a while to be stronger than me magically, plus the first tier 5 being weaker than me physically.
'Gaea's Champion' was another thing to worry about but most of my focus was on something else.
My spear had stabbed her directly in her chest.
What I found shocking however, was the speed with which she was healing. The cut on her chest closed off quickly as she tried to climb to her feets, only to be met by my shoes as I kicked her on the mouth.
"Release her." I snarled down at the Lamia, who had the nerves to smirk at me.
"Do your worst, halfbreed." She sneered up at me. "I will heal from anything."
"What a stupid thing to say."
And then, using all my strength, I ripped her arm out of the socket, not flinching even as blood and gore flew from her wound. The woman's screams were music to my ears. I never thought of myself as someone who enjoyed another's pain, even if they were enemies. But it seems I didn't know myself as well as I thought I did.
The screams quietened however when her ripped hand suddenly loosened from my grasp and connected back to her shoulder, healing at a rate I would usually consider impossible.
"As I said," The lamia hissed at me angrily. "Do your worst!"
"Release her, and I won't need to."
The slight smirk that formed on her face was all the answer I needed.
"You fool–"
So this time, I ripped her head out with a twist of my wrist and put it in my almost full inventory, before using a large amount of Holy power to cauterize her throat, wondering how she'll heal now.
I didn't have to wait at all as the cauterized part slowly healed before new skin and organs started to form.
This time, I levitated her body in the air, cutting off it's connection to earth. Her title as Gaea's Champion made me suspect where her regeneration might be coming from.
But all in failure as she still kept regenerating, growing herself a new skull.
Disgusted, I grasped the body and threw it away.
"Don't worry, Thals. We'll get out of this." I whispered tiredly, approaching the still girl.
I let a tiny spark of electricity fly towards her hand. It got me out of the spell, maybe it would help her too?
But it didn't. She stayed frozen still.
I tried picking her body up. As long as we can get past the border...
But no. Her body was stubbornly stuck on the floor.
"She will not move." The just healed Lamia hissed, smiling in schadenfreude. "I came prepared, you see? Used powerful catalyst to bind her. I'll admit, It isn't as impressive as my legendary feat of giving the monsters ability to smell half-bloods. But it's still a feat only the likes of Circe could replicate. I have no idea how you resisted it, but no matter. My job is done. Or, it will be. Now."
The widening smile on her face send chills down my spine.
This pathetic thing made the lives of demigods a hell? I couldn't believe it.
"You are joking." I scoffed uncertainly.
But then she vanished from my view and I felt the air moving, which I recognised as the use of Mystiokinesis. I turned to look, and noticed that all the green vines were now trasformed into chains of sharp metal with a disgusting violet hue to it.
The chains snapped at me, much more faster than before. I barely managed to jump sideways and form my lightning storm around me, along with a small demonic barrier when they struck.
I did my best to defend myself, swatting aside the sharp edges with both hands using my spear and barrier. They weren't strong enough to destroy my multilayered barrier but there were simply too many of them, even as most of them got deflected by my storm and some of them I outright cut off.
Slowly but surely small cuts started to form on my body. The whirlwind of blades only lasted for less than two minutes, but they managed to sap almost all of my remaining stamina and power.
I'd already been running on the fumes, having fought through multiple tier 4 beings and even a tier 5 monster, and this last defense was simply my limit.
[You have been Poisoned]
[Resistance Increased: Poison] Lvl 5
I staggered back a few steps, feeling drained and hurt.
"... Kael." The small weak voice broke through my fatigue and I instantly turned to Thalia.
I numbly stared at my sister as she fell on her knees, finally released, but with a blade stuck in her stomach. My feets carried me to her slowly, before losing power as I followed her to my knees.
".. Kael, I'm sorry." She whispered, blood dripping down her lips. My hands were already around her waist, holding her against me. "Please..."
I grasped the emergency stash of Ambrosia and hastily fed the cube to my sister with bleeding hands. But I knew, instinctively, that it wasn't enough.
"There is nothing you can do for her, son of Zeus." The solemn voice absently reached my ears. "No mortal can survive the poison for more than a few minutes. You yourself should be lying beside her, bleeding down your throat."
I glanced at her rapidly lowering health and felt lost. She was here, right here. Alive. And dying.
What do I do? My gamer's mind made me come to the most likely conclusion.
What does a person do when they know there is nothing they can do to save someone? I don't know.
But I cried. "You should've left when I told you to, you stupid girl."
Tears stung my eyes, hot and painful. My throat tightened as I held her with shaking hands.
And I begged.
"Just hold on, alright? Please, Hold on! I-I'll get you to camp and..."
But she simply shook her head tiredly, bloody tears spilling down, and closed her eyes.
And I mourned.
"Well my job is done. My lady only needed one of you dead. She would've liked it to be you, your sister is more easier to sway afterall. But that is fine, I've done my job." The Lamia's words reached me, presenting a target.
And I snapped.
The world turned dark around me, the wind bend to my command, the lightning bowed, my wings flared, pain and power entered my back. And amidst the shrieking terror of the Lamia, the booming sound of thunder, the shaking of the earth, and the sheer power in the air–
I collapsed.